17hats vs. BQE Core

It's great if you want to set up all of your client management so that you don't have to keep manually going through every step. It's so nice for me and my clients to have all of their forms streamlined and automated.

Incentivized

I have used BQE Core for time management and expenses only. Tool is super easy to use and generating reports is super easy. This makes tracking project hours/reporting much easier. Auto Save option is excellent as when working on multiple things, it is easy to forget to save data. If you are working on multiple projects, BQE core doesn't give an option to show projects in a certain priority. Filters don't save entered parameters for different projects.

Incentivized

• Invoicing
• Creating online questionnaire

Incentivized

• Invoice Collections within Billing is a great tool because of the ability to take notes and track contact.
• Invoices are professional looking and easy for our clients to understand the overall progress within each phase of their project.
• Dashboards are the best tool EVER!
• The Contact List feature within Clients setup is the perfect way to track multiple project managers within a large company that also has multiple contracts with us.

Incentivized

• Prior to this I was using only Stripe for my invoices and I loved that I could see all of my recurring client payments under "subscriptions." There might be a way to do this in 17Hats, but I'm just not sure. I like to be able to quickly see all of my current clients at a glance.

Incentivized

• Startup training is available (& you need it so that you get off to a great start)
• A report that shows the key setups for a project that can be glanced over quickly to assure it is correct
• A way to set a new start date for the dashboards and data set, or a way to default old bad data to a default so reports run without bad data showing up.

We have been using Core for a few years now, and honestly started to look at other software systems to see what was out there. What we chose was a nightmare for migration so we never left Core. Now we have added invoicing and payments from Core instead of double entry with QBO. Still only a few cycles in but looks like it will be up to speed soon and working smoothly.

Incentivized

It's been really great to use with my clients, but I cannot speak to setting it up as my VA handled all of that for me. I anticipate using it for a long time.

Incentivized

Generally, the software is very good, easy to use, and intuitive. The search features are extremely useful and the flexibility in filtering reports is a feature that allows you to pinpoint specific data or transactions effectively and efficiently. Sometimes there are frustrating performance issues that can detract from the overall experience.

Incentivized

I can only remember a couple of times in 4 years that Core has been unavailable.

This is one area that does need some improvement. It can be slow at time, so we had our IT look at it from our side and we had no issues, so it has to be some slowness on their side.

It's chat based so you have to wait a bit to hear back from them but they have gotten quicker with their responses which I appreciate.

Incentivized

Come to think of it, I've never even had to reach out to BQE Core support--which in and of itself, in my humble opinion, is just what so happens to merit my giving it a rating of ten out of ten on this review scale. See, if I had to reach out to support I might give it a lower score, but the program is so usable that I don't need to! Ha!

Incentivized

Make sure you have someone training you that fits your style of learning.

It does take some time to understand the options and to find the best invoice template.

Incentivized

Monograph is the most closely similar platform that would be favorable as it has a better GUI and UX with simpler flexibility for customization on a per-project, per design phase basis, for example, utilizing simple radio buttons and drop-down selections. This can be readily seen in the Project Planner window where it is widget-like and staffing, hourly rates, etc. can be quickly updated, revised, or customized in one location and see the immediate results of the changes. If we didn't have over 15 years invested into the data from ArchiOffice/CORE to move over we would change. OR, it would be nice if CORE simplified its platform and learn from Monograph.

Incentivized

This software works on a small and large scale.

• ROI - Saves me time on creating invoices and questionnaires.

Incentivized

• Extra CPA hours - because of the issues with the accounting side of BillQuick, we have had to spent extra hours with the CPA to understand exactly why it does some of the things it does. Over the years it has gotten better but we still have to work extra hard every quarter to make sure it is functioning correctly.
• Time and Expense entry - being able to have the staff enter their own time and expenses has allowed for the administrative staff to focus on other items instead of being bogged down with those items.
• One system - having all the company information in one system is cheaper than maintaining 2 or more systems. Plus all the risk associated with double entry is gone.
• Finding errors in the ledger - this is both a good a bad. Depending on the entry, it is either really easy to find or hard to find because you can't tell if it is a vendor bill, expense entry, or credit card charge. Also, there are no notes that show up which indicate what the line item is. Even if a note was left in the original entry.

Incentivized